calves cramping during Bricks

I've started doing some short brick workouts, and I have no idea what's normal. So I'm hoping you ladies can help me out:

As soon as I start running my thighs feel like they want to give out. I'm guessing that's normal, and it goes away fairly quickly. But within the first 3 minutes of the run (and it's more like a "slog") my calves are cramping. It doesn't go away unless I stop and walk. Any suggestions for how to deal with this?

Thanks.

My left calf seems to have developed a permanent cramp. :rolleyes:

After some research I determined that when I do a traditional calf stretch, I was only stretching the gastrocnemius, not the soleus. I found a stretch for the soleus and my calf no longer wakes me up in the middle of the night.

So are you stretching before you start your bricks?

V.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Veronica

My left calf seems to have developed a permanent cramp. :rolleyes:

After some research I determined that when I do a traditional calf stretch, I was only stretching the gastrocnemius, not the soleus. I found a stretch for the soleus and my calf no longer wakes me up in the middle of the night.

So are you stretching before you start your bricks?

V.

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I stretch briefly before I start the run, but it is minimal. Thanks for the tip. I'll do a google for soleus stretches